By The Landlord
“A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.” – Arthur Conan Doyle
“My desk is my drums.” – Jaimoe, aka Jai Johanny Johanson, The Allman Brothers Band
“Now, most dentist's chairs go up and down, don't they? The one I was in went back and forwards. I thought 'This is unusual'. And the dentist said to me 'Mr Vine, get out of the fillng cabinet.” – Tim Vine
“I used to sell furniture for a living. The trouble was, it was my own.” – Les Dawson
It could come as a relaxed, guitar-strumming rockin’ chair, or some super-organised production desk for grand composition, but, whether for work, pleasure, thought or leisure, we use it in various forms, constantly without thought, like a limb, as a norm. It is one of the few things in daily life that feels certain, and, echoing last week’s topic, something we can still trust, that when we sit down, lie back, or fully recline, like the ground below us, the object upon which we put our weight will not collapse.
But is more than that. Furniture is the soft rock upon which we sleep, recharge, make love, read, watch, socialise, imagine, arrange and decide. It is an extension of the body, functional and yet important also in appearance and design. So this week please pull up a chair, sit at the Bar, or anywhere you like and share in songs that mention either in passing, or as a main subject, any kind of furniture, whether that be chairs and recliners to tables and desks, sofas, wardrobes, amoires, beds, side tables and dining suites, or anything else so defined or designed, and give this week’s song theme some solid support.
So for example who might want to recline yourself, momentarily on Bob Dylan’s big brass bed, a key part of Lay Lady Lady, though that song has already been laid to rest in the Marconium. Or you might get some inspiration, more generally for those porch creativity, by this album cover for Howlin’ Wolf.
Rock’ on, Howlin’
Some furniture is significant in music’s history or other reasons. For its first to last poster, records and everything in between, the 511 items put out by Manchester’s gloriously chaotic Factory Records each represented some kind of creative release. Few are more comically controversial, or sum up that label better than FAC 331, the so-called Temporary Contemporary Table, a strange, high-gloss angular orangey structure commissioned by Tony Wilson as a creative statement for meetings in their warehouse building. “Design 3”, by Andy Woodcock and Ed Jackson has an interesting concept behind it.
FAC 331. Was it a glorious Fac Up?
As Woodcock put it: “Tony thought the whole meeting culture idea was just painful, so he wanted a table which would be a nightmare to sit at so that any meetings wouldn't endlessly drag on and on. I came up with the idea of making it seem to float, tense, chaotic and asymmetrical, as the thing should be, like Factory, somewhat unstable and structureless. ... The added bonus was that the cables could be tuned, like you would a guitar, and therefore the table could be played and used as an instrument (sort of). The first glimpse of it when coming up the stairs was magical, there was this big industrial object hovering in space, which looked like it just wanted to go fast, to take off, but was being tied down and held in check by razor thin steel wires …”
The original was supposed to cost £2,000, it ended up being £30,000. It was no surprise then that, as portrayed in the 2002 brilliant film, 24 Hour Party People, in which Wilson is played by Steve Coogan, the creation was met with more than a little consternation:
“But you’re paying for the design!” Design is all to some people and is a whole world in itself. Most people live with functional items that lean towards different styles. Ikea has dominate many households over the past few decades, and another drummer, Dave Grohl is here, as a fan: “Give me something to assemble, I won't look at the directions, I'll try to figure it out by myself. It's why I love Ikea furniture.”
Elegant, expensive, strange, traditional or modern, furniture be a status symbol, a piece of history, hold the imprint of a person, can be make from all kinds of materials, plastic to wood, whicker to willow. Danish designs, often in rosewood, are highly regarded. Shaker furniture, originally designed to be humble and simple, has become highly collectable, loved by the famous from Oprah Winfrey to David Byrne. Personally I have a distant ambition meanwhile to own a Charles Eames reclining chair and ottoman:
If anyone has a spare Eames, I’m your man
Jack White’s interest is even more involved. His other career, into which he sometimes dives with machinery and thread, and no small amount of skill and passion, is furniture upholstery:
Jack White, upholsterer.
But growing up, one of the most important pieces of furniture in many households, especially in the second half of the 20th century, including mine as a child, was the Radiogram, a combined record player and radio that was turned into a sacred centrepiece in itself. Here’s another beauty:
Some furniture can have many other functions, particularly in the 1970s you could buy lavish beds combined with TV sets, ashtrays, lamps, vibrating areas and more.
But furniture and music can be combined in other ways. In 1917 the French composer Erik Satie coined the phrase musique d’ameublement, or furniture music. That doesn’t mean he was playing using the wooden structure of chair as xylophone, or blasting the trombone made of brass bedposts (if only) but described a type of music that was more for background purposes, such as Tapisserie en fer forgé (Tapestry in forged iron - for the arrival of the guests) or Carrelage phonique (Phonic tiling - Can be played during a lunch or civil marriage).
Sat for furniture music. Erik Satie
Now though there are more visitors to the Bar, expressing their own furniture angles, but one in particular is hogging the seat, reclining on or big leather number by the fireside. “I've owned more sofas than I've had husbands. Both sag in the end …” says media personality Janet Street-Porter.
But let’s now have a little furniture exhibition of our own. The guitar is clearly inspiration for some innovative designs.
Neck for legs
That sinking feeling
Pan Alley songs, anyone?
Key place for books?
Drinks?
Sofa so good
Get into the Moog
Now though, let us turn to higher minded pursuits. Henri Matisse is here, to furnish us with his artistic vision: “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”
We all need that special chair in which we can relax, or fully express ourselves. My own personal vision of the creative life is a little bit inspired by the routine of the great Roald Dahl, whose working day involves key items of furniture. Watch below where he goes to work, with a particular armchair, a piece of wood for writing table, a simple lamp. But also look at the furniture he uses when finished. He loved items from the 18th century, but to relax he put on a record inside what looks like a big chest of drawers, and later on, in the evening, when his friends come round, the big table comes out … Glorious.
So then, from whatever position you are resting, I’m delighted to tell you that furnishing you with further guidance for this week’s topic is our very own seat of wisdom, the marvellous Marco den Ouden, aka Marconius! Place your furniture-based songs in comments below, for deadline on Monday 11pm UK time, for playlists published on Wednesday. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll …
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